Episode Summary

The Goddess Discord needs a third witch to join Haleh and Sariah, and Seska, a troubled teen, seemed the perfect choice. Now Seska could take revenge on Magnus, the town bully. Hercules arrives to protect Seska from harm after Haleh frames her for witchcraft, for which the sentence is death. Haleh also makes Iolaus believe he was in love with Seska's mother, Lilith. Haleh uses the book of spells to summon Neibros, an evil warlock. But Seska had a change of heart and helps Hercules by undoing the spell. Haleh is then sent back to the beyond, while Seska renounces witchcraft.

Two witches in training convince lonely and bullied young Cesca to join them, but are in cohorts with Discord to frame Hercules for being an evil warlock. One of the far better episodes from this season...moreless

This episode is one of the few good episodes to come from this rather average-at-best season.

I like the opening scene, where Hercules and Iolaus discuss their trip to visit Lilith right in the middle of fighting a band of goons.

With their mission to help the troubled young Cesca though, it is maybe surprising that they didn't take along Jason – after all, he is her father. One thing that did stand out to me, was that on their last encounter with Hercules, Lilith and Cesca met Iolaus II, but here, they don't seem at all surprised that the original Iolaus is back. One can only assume that they have seen each other in between in an off-screen encounter. Cesca seems more naïve and easily led that when we first saw her, in 'The Academy' last season. There she seemed more than able to stand up for herself. I like the plot of this episode, it is by far the best seen thus far this season (with 'Darkness Visible' being the only episodes of note), it has some good twists and turns, and touches upon concepts also explored in the likes of 'Charmed' and 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. When Hercules is put on trial for being a warlock, you really wonder how he's going to get out of this one. The sub-plot, of a spell being cast on Iolaus to fall in love with Lilith, is not necessary and very silly, and the only thing which really lets this episode down. [Moderate spoiler] It is interesting to note that, going by this episode, witchcraft seems to be stronger than being a God, as the young witches trap Discord in a box. Maybe this would have been different if she were an older, more experienced God. [End of moderate spoiler] All-in-all, I really enjoyed this episode, and it's a shame that more from this season haven't been this sort of quality.moreless

QUOTES (2)

Iolaus: Ah, Lilith. I long for you... and every moment, it gets longer.(Lilith chuckles)Lilith: Iolaus...Iolaus: Oh, yeah. I know! I know! It's a bit of a shock. But, you know? We don't have to hurry. We can take our time. We could live together first. And then if things work out, we could get married in the morning.

Hercules: Don't tell me you forgot what it was like to be a teenager.Iolaus: Yeah, well, Herc, it's been a long time. I can't...Hercules: Well, you know, you tell them to go right and they go left.Iolaus: Right, then you tell them to go left and they go right.Hercules: No, they still go left because they know that you've been trying to get them to go right all along.

NOTES (1)

ALLUSIONS (4)

Haleh's cave contains a reverse pentagram symbol. This has been a magical symbol connected with witchcraft for a long time. The standard pentagram represents the four elements, with the point at the top representing spirit. However, when upside-down, it is generally considered a symbol of evil, and the triumph of matter over the spirit. The reverse pentagram is often connected to Satanism, a term that refers to a large group of belief systems.

The term "warlock" is often used to describe a male witch. However, the term "witch" is actually gender-neutral, and can be used for both men and women (which it was, in many of the historical witch trials, though some chose to use the witch/warlock distinction). The term "warlock" means "oath-breaker" and as such, is generally considered a derogatory term, not used by modern day witches. It is, however, often used by practitioners of Traditional Satanism, mostly because of the stigma attached to it.

This episode is a take-off on the 1996 movie The Craft with Neve Campbell. The film centers around four teenage witches, and a central theme is the use of witchcraft for good versus evil. It also contains a love spell gone awry.

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